An effective means of decreasing toxic pollutants and cleaning waste gas streams is with the use of wet scrubbers. Conventional waste and toxic waste incinerators use wet scrubbers for this purpose. Pollutants and potentially hazardous and toxic materials are present in the gas formed from the incineration of the waste. The gas stream is then made to enter a wet scrubber. The wet scrubber is able to remove much of the pollutants and toxic particles from the gas. The pollutants condense and are removed from the scrubber generally entrained in an aqueous medium. The cleaned gas is then allowed to exit the scrubber and enter the atmosphere.
Wet scrubbers conventionally operate by allowing the waste gas to rise in an unobstructed space within a tower. A liquid, in the form of droplets is introduced to the gas by means of a series of spray nozzles. The liquid droplets pass through the upward moving gas and collect and dissolve the particulate matter in the gas. This countercurrent flow of gas and liquid droplets allows for more efficient collection of the particulate pollutants.
One of the main challenges of wet scrubbers is an efficient removal of pollutants from the gases. One of the factors that improve this efficiency is proper mixing of the pollutant gas with the scrubbing liquid. Most scrubbers just use liquid spray in counter flow to the gaseous pollutant. The present invention combines elements of a packed bed, a bubble column reactor, a cyclone scrubber and a spray tower. In doing so, a significantly improved scrubbing efficiency of acid gasses and other pollutants is obtained. Furthermore the present invention lowers the energy costs associated with its comprising parts by using waste heat for providing energy for the other elements of the present invention.